Wheely good effort, as J Tomlinson supports cycling initiative

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 4 April 2017

UPDATED: 4 April 2017

A team from J Tomlinson took to the saddle in support of a mixed-ability bike ride along the Leeds Superhighway.

The Nottingham-based construction services company has built links with community cycling group Streetbikes on a number of levels.

The firm has come to the rescue of Streetbikes, and sponsored the building of a classroom at Milnsbridge, Huddersfield, to enable the group to work effectively with local schools and community groups teaching children, young people not in education, training or employment, and adults, how to maintain and recycle bikes, putting them back into the community for use by low-income families, sometimes in deprived neighbourhoods. For some of these individuals, the bike is the only means of transport.

Now J Tomlinson has also joined forces with Streetbikes CiC to sponsor a cycle ride along the Leeds Superhighway from Bradford to Leeds and back, which was supported by City Connect – an organisation that promotes cycling and active travel improvements.

A group of approximately 25 -30 cyclists including staff, volunteers and members of the public from Streetbikes, J Tomlinson and City Connect completed the ride. They included Tmara, an eyesight-impaired tandem cyclist, Karen, also on a tandem, recovering from severe head injuries, and other members of the public who wish to maintain healthy minds and healthy bodies by continuing their riding experiences. The make-up of the group reflected the mixed ability riders for whom the Cycling Superhighway was built.

They were waved off on the ride by cycling veteran and Streetbikes patron Brian Robinson, who was the first British person to win a stage of the Tour De France and who was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 2017 New Year’s Honours for his services to charity and cycling.

Among the cyclists were nine J Tomlinson staff, including CEO Mark Davis, who said: “As a company, J Tomlinson was keen to support Streetbikes in the valuable community work that the group does, so we were delighted to sponsor the classroom build and also the ride along the Leeds Superhighway.”

He handed over a cheque for £1,800 to Streetbikes during the 20-mile round trip.

Gill Greaves, coordinator for Streetbikes, said: “We are tremendously grateful to J Tomlinson for the sponsorship that the firm has given us for the cycle ride, and also for the support to build the classroom, which will prove to be a big bonus in helping us to teach people how to maintain and recycle bicycles. Our role is important in helping low-income families to access safe bicycles for use either as a transport method or for leisure.

“We were delighted that a team from J Tomlinson could join us on the Superhighway cycle ride, along with others.”

J Tomlinson provides a range of integrated building services which include construction, mechanical and electrical services (M&E), facilities management, refurbishment, repairs and maintenance and regeneration.

Based in Nottingham, the firm primarily operates across the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire. It is currently involved in a number of Yorkshire contracts, including responsive repairs contracts with North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire Police, a kitchen replacement contract with East Riding of Yorkshire Council and a facilities management contract with Yorkshire Water.

Streetbikes is a community initiative based near Huddersfield, which organises mixed ability and community cycle rides, teaches people to ride bikes, recycles unwanted bicycles and donates them to those in need, encourages cycling for health and fitness, undertakes bike mechanic training and generally raises the profile of cycling.

For more information about J Tomlinson, visit www.jtomlinson.co.uk For more information about Streetbikes visit www.streetbikes.org.uk

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